Tellervo Koivisto

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Tellervo Koivisto (born 2 January 1929) is a Finnish politician and the former First Lady of Finland, serving from 1982 to 1994 as the wife of President Mauno Koivisto. She grew up on a farm in Punkalaidun, western Finland. She studied economics at the Turku School of Economics, graduating in 1953, and worked as a teacher before becoming a housewife after her daughter Assi was born in 1957.

Koivisto joined the Social Democratic Party and served in the Finnish Parliament in 1972, though she left after one term and later ran for Helsinki City Council in 1976. As First Lady, she focused on social issues and charity work rather than ceremonial duties.

In 1999 she published a memoir in which she wrote openly about a depression she experienced, triggered by childhood bullying. On her 90th birthday, she spoke about mistreatment during her school years, including abuse by a priest who was her religion teacher. She also described experiences of sexual harassment in the Finnish Parliament, linking them to the MeToo movement. On 25 December 2020, she was hospitalized after a fall at home that resulted in a broken hip.